And so it begins...


Rose stood by the Doctor's side at the console, anxiously chewing the tip of her thumb as he piloted the TARDIS to take her to see her mum. She was feeling equally nervous and excited. But excitement was quickly winning out. After four months, Rose was overjoyed that she would finally be able to see her again.

The trip had been slightly delayed, however, when after putting the TARDIS into the Vortex, the Doctor had, quite literally, pounced on Rose and they ended up making love (fulfilling a longstanding fantasy she'd had) in the console room. She would never look at the jump seat in quite the same way ever again.

The Doctor would later say that he was merely feeling overly exhilarated at finally being back in the TARDIS as explanation for his lack of control. But Rose suspected that for all his talk about being able to raise and lower his barriers at will and control his desires, it seemed it only took her giving him the right kind of look for his barriers to fall at her feet.

Rose would have been more than happy to continue their side-tracking activities indefinitely if she had not been so eager to finally see her mum. Yet she was undeniably nervous about how her mum would take the news of her and the Doctor's relationship. Regardless, Rose was now and grown woman and she had made her choice. And despite her mum's earlier, less than glowing opinion of the Doctor, Rose believed that once her mum came to realize how deeply she and the Doctor loved each other, she couldn't help but be truly happy for them.

Just to be on the safe side, though, it wouldn't hurt to bring a little gift to help ensure she would be in a good mood, Rose thought. Rose decided to give her mum the Bazoolium she had picked up at a market on the asteroid bazaar the Doctor had taken her to shortly before they had been separated from the TARDIS.

Rose and the Doctor had discussed it, and they decided it would be best if some time had passed since Jackie had seen them last so their news wouldn't seem quite so sudden. They both agreed to travel ahead two months. It was only half the amount of time that had passed for the two of them, but Rose didn't want her mum to go that long without seeing her. Two months seemed like a sufficient amount of time. And maybe her mum would have missed her just enough that she would take the news a little better, just being happy to see Rose again.

The TARDIS materialized in a children's play area near the Powell Estate. Rose didn't have time to do any laundry once they'd returned to the TARDIS (due to being preoccupied with other, decidedly more pleasant activities), so she stuffed the laundry that had accumulated during their trip in her rucksack and brought it along.

The Doctor and Rose were feeling positively giddy as they exited the TARDIS together. They finally had all of time and space once again at their fingertips, and they were madly in love and now able to express it. All seemed right with the world as they made their way to Jackie's flat with an airy bounce in their step, chatting merrily and swinging their joined hands between them.

"Mum, it's us! We're baaack!" Rose called out excitedly as she stepped through the front door.

Jackie hurried from where she'd been in the kitchen over to the door to greet them. "Oh, I don't know why you bother with that phone! You never use it!" Jackie chided, as she and Rose threw their arms around each other in a hug.

If only you knew, Rose thought, just how many times I wished I could have used that phone to talk to you.

"Oh, I love you!" Jackie said, as they continued to embrace.

"I love you!" Rose replied, and hugged her all the tighter.

The Doctor, looking on, smiled warmly as mother and daughter were finally reunited. He also used Jackie's distraction to try and slip past unnoticed to avoid her wrath for having kept her daughter away so long, but with no such luck.

"Oh no you don't. Come here!" Jackie spotted him slinking past and pinned him with a hug, then planted sloppy kisses on his face.

"Oh, you lovely, big fella!" she fussed over him. "Oh, you're all mine!"

Rose tried to hold back her amusement. If only her mum knew. It might not be kisses she'd soon be planting on the Doctor's face.

"Just…just put me down," the Doctor spluttered in protest. This was even worse than being slapped, he decided. He just hoped this wasn't a sign of things to come considering that they were now practically (he shuddered at the thought) family.

The Doctor finally disentangled himself from Jackie's trapping embrace, wiping at his face with the back of his hand in disgust. There was only one Tyler woman he wanted the affection of, and it was not Jackie.

Rose slid her rucksack down from her shoulder and handed it over to her mum. "I've got loads of washing for you." That probably wasn't the best gift to present her with, Rose noted, and quickly produced the ornate object, smiling widely.

"And...I got you this! It's from the market on this asteroid bazaar. It's made of...um...," Rose found her mind was having a hard time focusing due to her excitement and nervousness. She turned back to the Doctor. "What's it called?" she asked, needing a little help here.

"Bazoolium," he answered.

"Bazoolium," Rose repeated. "When it gets cold, yeah, it means it's gonna rain. When it's hot, it's gonna be sunny. You can use it to tell the weather!" she said brightly, hoping this exotic gift would impress her mum and maybe soften their news.

"I've got a surprise for you and all," Jackie replied.

"Oh, I get her a Bazoolium and she doesn't even say 'thanks'," Rose muttered. Well, so much for the hopes of her being impressed by the gift.

Whatever Jackie's surprise might be, Rose had some rather important news of her own. She decided it would be best to just come out with it as quickly as possible as they made their way into the sitting room.

"Mum," Rose began as they all sat, "I have some news for you, too. And I think...I think I better just say this first, okay?"

Jackie now looked a little cautious, but she nodded as Rose drew a deep, fortifying breath into her lungs. "I know it's been two months for you since you've seen us last, but actually, for us, it's been four." Rose shook her head slightly. "It's a really, really long story; but basically, the Doctor and I got separated from the TARDIS. We were sent four months into the past and had to wait for time to catch back up to us before we could get back to where we had been." Rose cut her eyes up to the Doctor. "How am I doin' so far?"

"Adequately accurate," he assessed, stretching his long legs out and crossing them at the ankles. His calm, casual demeanor was a little annoying considering Rose was fighting down butterflies in her stomach.

Rose cleared her throat and looked back to her mum. "Right. So anyway, we've been living most of these past four months up North, in Kendal, because we couldn't risk being here and crossing back over our past timeline." Rose paused to see if Jackie seemed to be following, then continued on. "The Doctor and I...well...we were renting a flat together." Rose bit her lip in hesitation, but Jackie didn't seem too fazed by this news considering the two of them had been living together in the TARDIS for over two years. "So much happened in those four months. Mum, what I'm trying to say is...a lot happened between us during that time. And when I say a lot...well...,"

Jackie saw where this was leading and suddenly cut in bluntly, stating her realization. "You're tryin' to tell me you're sleeping with an alien, aren't you?" Her voice then rose a pitch higher, causing the once calm Doctor to wince as the words 'Stitch this, mate!' flashed in his mind. "And...and I can just imagine how long this has been goin' on! Oh, I should've known! So now it all comes out. The two of you, alone in that...that box together, even back when himself here was all Northern accent and leather." She nodded accusingly towards the Doctor. "This is what the two of you've been up to all along, isn't it?"

Rose momentarily fell silent as the Doctor stammered to reply. "We hadn't been!" he protested. "Not all along, that is. But now, well...," he awkwardly rubbed at the back of his neck as Jackie interrupted briskly.

"Oh, shut up, you. I don't want to hear the details, thank you very much."

He promptly closed his mouth and sat back with a frown. He didn't understand why Jackie was so upset about Rose 'sleeping with an alien.' To him, Rose was the alien. That certainly didn't deter him. But having been 'shut up' by Jackie, he wasn't able to present that piece of logic.

"Mum," Rose began gently, "that's not how it was all along. But what he and I have between us is so much more than that now." She looked up at the Doctor and smiled softly, her eyes sparkling. She still couldn't quite believe this was true. "The Doctor and I are bonded."

Jackie snorted. "Well, obviously, if that's what you want to call it."

Rose sighed as the Doctor leaned forward and spoke once more. "Jackie, being bonded is the Gallifreyan equivalent of what you would consider a marriage. So whatever you might be thinking about our relationship, my commitment to Rose is without question."

All three sat in heavy silence as Jackie processed this revelation.

After a moment of pondering, she finally replied. "So does this mean I'm gonna have grandchildren with tentacles?"

Rose nearly choked. The Doctor answered in exasperation. "Jackie, do I have tentacles?"

She gave him a critical up and down appraisal. "Well, I really wouldn't know. But I suppose Rose would," she said pointedly, as Rose inadvertently flushed.

The Doctor was hesitant to even discuss this with Jackie, but he decided she had the right to know. "It wouldn't be an issue either way because Rose and I won't be able to have children. It's not possible for us," he said gently, gauging her reaction.

Jackie was less than thrilled with this news and the idea that her daughter could never have children – alien or otherwise. She turned to Rose. "So you could never have kids...never have a family?"

Rose reached over and took her hand. "Mum, if I couldn't have that with the Doctor then it's something I never would've had anyway. He is the man I love and all that I could ever want. Nothing will be missing in our lives as long as he and I have each other."

Jackie was silent for another few minutes. Once she had time to begin processing it she realized she really wasn't surprised by this news at all. She knew her daughter well enough to know Rose had been in love with the Doctor for a very long time. She finally spoke up again, resigning herself to that fact. "Well, I suppose none of this is up to me anyway, is it? You've made your own choice. All I really want is for you to be happy, sweetheart."

Rose smiled in relief as she leaned over and wrapped her in a hug. "You have no idea how happy I am."

Jackie then turned to the Doctor. "As for you...all I want is the same thing I always have. And that is your promise to me that you'll always keep her safe."

The Doctor's expression was sober. "I'll protect her with my life, Jackie, just as I always have. I'll do whatever it takes to always keep Rose safe."

Jackie knew she couldn't ask more of him. This would have to be enough. She nodded and drew a deep breath as she looked back to Rose, a smile forming on her face. "Well, I'm not the only one you can share your news with," she announced. Now it was her turn for a surprise. Ordinarily she wouldn't have simply moved on from something like this so quickly, but this news was rather important as well. "This is what I was tryin' to tell you before. Guess who's coming to visit? You're just in time - he'll be here at ten past! Who do you think it is?"

Rose was a little bemused by her sudden shift to enthusiasm. "I don't know."

"Oh go on, guess!"

Rose sighed. After such a heavy conversation she wasn't in the mood. "No, I hate guessing. Just tell me."

Jackie paused and grinned widely. "It's your granddad. Granddad Prentice. He's on his way. Any minute!"

Jackie stood up and headed for the kitchen. "Right, cup of tea!"

Rose stood up and gaped after her as the Doctor came up behind her. Apparently their news was too much for her to handle after all. It had sent her over the edge. "She's gone mad," Rose stated slowly, staring towards her mum in concern.

The Doctor just smirked. "Tell me something new."

"Granddad Prentice – that's her dad. But he died like…ten years ago," Rose explained.
"Oh my God. She's lost it."

Rose and the Doctor followed her to the kitchen and stood in the doorway. "Mum? What you just said about Granddad..."

Jackie's voice was laced with excitement. "Any second now."

Rose spoke gently. "But...he passed away. His heart gave out. Do you remember that?"

"'Course I do."

Rose shook her head. "Then how can he come back?"

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Jackie checked her watch. "Ten past. Here he comes."

A featureless, shadowy figure began to materialize in the room and suddenly appeared right next to Jackie. "Here we are, then! Dad, say hello to Rose. Ain't she grown?"

The Doctor and Rose looked on, dumbstruck.

-:-

All three sat by the telly as the Doctor scanned through each channel in bewilderment. The current topic on every network was the same. Ghost enthusiasm had apparently spread worldwide. Rose perched on the side of the couch with her mum as the Doctor sat on the floor beside them. Rose tried very hard to ignore the fact that he was currently wearing The Glasses. Now just wasn't the time for 'those' kinds of thoughts, she told herself firmly. Not when there was an apparent crisis building, and not when they were in the company of her mum.

The Doctor tried to learn as much as he could from Jackie about these supposed 'ghosts.' "When did it start?" he asked.

"Well first of all, Peggy heard this noise in the cellar, so she goes down...," Jackie began to explain.

Rose smirked and the Doctor rolled his eyes in exasperation. "No, I mean worldwide."

"Oh! That was about two months ago. Just happened. Woke up one morning and there they all were – ghosts, everywhere. We all ran around screaming and that, whole planet was panicking. No sign of you, thank you very much," she added.

Two months. The realization began to set in. If the Doctor had come sooner, even before that, if he'd been able to have the TARDIS to detect the beginning of this activity, maybe he could have stopped all of this before it escalated to this point. There was no changing that now. He had to work from this point forward.

The Doctor quickly sprang into action, determined to somehow get the situation in hand. They moved outdoors where the Doctor set up devices outside the TARDIS to triangulate the ghost's point of origin.

Rose assisted him from inside the TARDIS as Jackie joined her at the console for a mother-daughter talk. Maybe this wasn't exactly the best time, Jackie thought to herself; but considering the life Rose and the Doctor led, these were most likely the only sort of moments she would have.

Jackie couldn't deny that she was happy Rose had found a true and deep love. But that still didn't mean she was entirely at ease with the idea of Rose living the rest of her life like a roving alien. And considering she was now married or bonded or whatever they called it to a roving alien, that would undoubtedly be the way Rose would live the rest of her life.

"You've changed so much," Jackie noted quietly as she studied her daughter in contemplation. The changes in Rose were evident, just since the last time she had seen her. She could perceive that the four months she and the Doctor had spent alone together had clearly changed Rose in a profound way.

"For the better," Rose insisted, having never felt more complete or completely alive now that she and the Doctor had reached this point together.

"I s'pose so," Jackie replied softly, wanting to believe that it was true.

Rose turned to her, willing her to understand the enormity of how the Doctor had changed her life. "Mum, I used to work in a shop."

"I've worked in shops. What's wrong with that?" Jackie replied back defensively, clearly not grasping the depth of what Rose was trying to convey.

"No, I didn't mean that," Rose tried to explain.

"I know what you meant," Jackie retorted. "What happens when I'm gone?" she leveled at her bluntly.

"Don't talk like that!"

"No, but really." Jackie softened but remained serious. "When I'm dead and buried, you won't have any reason to come back home. What happens then?"

She paused and glanced down. "I don't know," Rose answered quietly.

"Do you think you'll ever settle down?" she questioned, needing to know more about this life Rose and the Doctor planned to lead together now that she knew it was unquestionably permanent.

"The Doctor never will, so I can't." Rose knew his life was meant for traveling the stars. And she was more than happy with that. She had told him that was the life she wanted before they left their bungalow on the beach. "I'll just keep on travelling," Rose replied, with complete assurance in her decision.

"And you'll keep on changing," Jackie warned. "And in forty years' time, fifty, there'll be this woman – this strange woman walking through the marketplace on some planet a billion miles from Earth. But she's not Rose Tyler. Not anymore. She's not even human."

Rose remained silent as she took Jackie's words to heart. Something inside her told her that she would change – in an even more profound way than she already had. Through the link she and the Doctor shared at their most intimate times, she would sometimes catch glimpses of timelines, possibilities, and potentials – potentials that seemed too extraordinary to even speak of. And whatever 'changes' may lay in store for Rose, it was not something she feared but something she embraced as destiny.

-:-

Despite the seriousness of the current situation, beneath it all, the Doctor couldn't hide his almost hyper enthusiasm at having a universal crisis to solve with Rose once again. It had been so long. And this was, after all, one of the things they did best.

He dashed into the TARDIS, throwing his coat over the side strut as he went. "I said so!" he spoke excitedly as he rushed up to the console and began entering coordinates. "Those ghosts have been forced into existence from one specific point! And I can track down the source." He pulled the final lever and set them in flight with a gleeful exclamation of, "Allons-y!"

The Doctor continued prattling away to himself as he twisted knobs and punched buttons at the console as he piloted the ship.

"I like that. 'Allons-y'. I should say 'Allons-y' more often. 'Allons-y'." He gave the expression a try. "Watch out, Rose Tyler! Allons-y!" Yes, he thought to himself, that had a definite ring to it. "And then," he continued, "it would be really brilliant if I met someone called Alonzo..." He came to a stop in front of Rose, who'd been quietly watching him with a peculiar look on her face. "Because then I could say, 'Allons-y, Alonzo', every time!"

His wide grin quickly faded as he noticed her expression. "You're staring at me," he noted.

This wasn't Rose's 'let's make love in the console room again' look. No, this particular look made him very uneasy.

"My mum is still onboard," Rose quietly informed him.

Very uneasy. His eyes lifted slowly and widened as they fell upon Jackie seated up above.

"If we end up on Mars, I'm gonna kill you," she threatened.

The Doctor looked on in dread. This day was quickly going downhill.

He wasn't aware of just how bad it would soon get. The TARDIS had arrived at its destination within an institute known as Torchwood.